A recent awareness in people's health has increased the number of individuals exercising by running, jogging, walking, hiking, sitting, or biking on streets, sidewalks, and other public places. Because of people's busy schedules, individuals choose to or are forced to exercise during low lit hours of the day, such as dusk or dawn thus resulting in a lessened chance of passing vehicles seeing the individuals and a greater chance of the passing vehicles colliding with the pedestrian. Further, national statistics show that almost fifty percent of individual fatalities occur between the hours of 6 p.m. and midnight.
Attempts to make pedestrian more visible have resulted in individuals wearing bright or reflective colored clothing, gloves, and/or carrying a flashlight, for example. However, for various exemplary reasons, such as the clothing blending into the surrounding environment, the reflective material covering only a small area of the wearer's body, or the clothing or individual being hidden from a vehicle driver's view, the bright colored clothing is not always a satisfactory method of alerting the vehicle driver of the pedestrian's presence. The danger for the pedestrian is compounded in that many drivers unfortunately don't pay enough attention to their surroundings and individuals can be especially hard to see amongst oncoming headlights. This results in an increased risk of a collision with the vehicle and the pedestrian.
Other safety devices may include reflective material embedded in the wearer's clothing. These safety devices can result in heavy and awkwardness of the clothing, as well as difficulty in maneuvering while wearing the clothing, and difficulty in cleaning the clothing. Improvement of safety devices and related articles for individuals running, jogging, walking, hiking, sitting, or biking on streets, sidewalks, and other public places can yield drastic reductions in road accidents and fatalities and are thus highly desirable.